


the world isn't safe when you're not home

by mikantsumiki



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Illustrated, coolbabys in this if thats anything to go by
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-16
Updated: 2012-09-16
Packaged: 2017-11-14 08:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikantsumiki/pseuds/mikantsumiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>woop woop first fic up on ao3 ahoy<br/>also art by my amazing girlfriend!!!</p>
    </blockquote>





	the world isn't safe when you're not home

**Author's Note:**

> woop woop first fic up on ao3 ahoy  
> also art by my amazing girlfriend!!!

He comes home from work late at night sometimes and Terezi ends up having to sleep alone.

Sure, she has their kids and if they wanted to, they could easily come into her bed and sleep with her but that really isn’t the _same_. Besides, most of them are already tucked into bed and fast asleep by now. She’ll just have to deal. If he isn’t here right now, she’ll find herself curled up around in the morning; it’s no big deal really.

She passes the time by staring blankly at the TV, rather listening to the words and smelling the faint scents of pixelated pictures of some show she’s not really aware of. She tries to pay attention to what they’re saying – really, she is – but whatever’s happening goes in one ear and out the other.

She passes the time by going through her children’s things on the ground. Mostly the toys of their twins since the other two are long since grown up enough not to need them and it brings a warm smile to her face. She ends up picking them up and putting them away, the sticky surfaces of a plush scalemate catches her attention though. Instead of placing it in the toy box with the rest, she takes it with her and goes off into a hallway.

Down the hall, she touches the doorknobs, remembering which door belonged to which one of her kids and when she comes to her daughter’s room, she pushes it open. The lights from the hall flicker into the room for a few seconds before it’s closed once again and darkness is once again. She sits down at the edge of her bed and tilts her head down.

She’s never actually seen her daughter, but Dave tells her all the time that there’s no way nobody could tell the difference between the two of them. Her hair’s rough but straight and it smells like a field of sunflowers on a rainy day and she always wears it up in pigtails. He’s also said that she has dark freckles on the bridge of her nose running to her cheek bones and a small mole in the shape of a heart above her top lip. Her horns just barely jut out of her head, but they could grow over time (she’s only 2 sweeps old, _she has time for that later_ ).

She thinks her daughter, Justice, is beautiful no matter what.

She sets the scalemate down by her curled up arms, leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead. She strokes her blonde locks before moving back up. She also misses the rustling of the sheets that alert her baby girl’s up.

“Mommy?” Justice calls, rubs her eyes sleepily and sits up into a comfortable position. You can tell she’s wearing her favorite pajamas – the red and black dragon one-piece that she doesn’t have “accidents” in, thank god for that. Settling her toy down, she pulls lightly on her mother’s arm, licks at her chapped lips and wrestles herself out of the sheets so that she could get closer to the elder troll, her lithe arms finding their way around half of Terezi’s torso.

“You left Liaison Pumpkinsniffle out in the living room,” She whispers softly into the girl’s hair, her eyes closing briefly so that she could soak the soft embrace, “I didn’t think you could sleep without him.”

“I could barely do it!” Is the reply she gets back, her voice so soft and tender with the scratchiness of her mom’s voice already present.

Terezi doesn’t say much else, just tells her daughter to go back to sleep and then gets back up onto her feet, the bags under her eyes feeling all the more heavier. She pushes the door open before Justice speaks up again.

“Can I sleep with you tonight?” The blonde troll says, feet padding lightly against the carpet as she makes her way over towards the other with Liaison Pumpkinsniffle dragging behind her.

Terezi knows that if she lets her daughter sleep with her again that there’s a good chance Dave will end up sleeping on the couch again and he probably wants to come home and snuggle up to her after work. She knows that he won’t sleep as well on the couch because the nightmares might get to him and she won’t get there in time to wake him up. She imagines that it’s the worst thing she could ever see happen to him and sometimes, she’s thankful for not having sight.

“Just until daddy comes home,” She says, voice hoarse as she bends down to pick Justice up into her arms and walks over towards her bedroom. Before she gets to, though, her daughter insists on having a glass of milk and some cookies because she’s obviously allowed to ask for these things at a quarter to midnight without it being a problem for Mommy. She laughs a little and indulges the girl because she’s mommy’s little angel and she can have anything she asks for.

\--

Half past twelve and Terezi is pulling the sheets down far enough for Justice to crawl into their delicious cherry acres of a bed. She sets the empty plate and half-full glass down on the bedside table and shuffles in after her girl, her arms curling around all four feet and five inches of pure coolkid-slash-troll mixed into one into her chest. She smells of smiles and laughter during the summer and warm winter nights by the fire, and as much as she’s so tired and wants to sleep another night away from her matesprit with her baby, it seems like sleep isn’t coming to her.

A few moments later, she hears the front door creak open and her body goes tense. She wants to just hold Justice even closer to her chest to protect them from any harm that might happen, but she has other kids to worry about as well and how’s she going to get them in time? She tilts her head towards the door and listens in to the noises coming from outside of it. A few things drop onto their kitchen countertop, the refrigerator opens and shuts, noisy shoe stomps echo with every step and she can even hear the soft stretches of muscles and cracks of bones.

Soon, the bedroom door opens, though, and she doesn’t have to worry anymore because the familiar scent of Dave, all sweaty and gross (ew dave go take a shower) from work, fills her nostrils. She guesses that he thinks they’re asleep as he goes into the bathroom and freshens himself up. He’s back out a few minutes later and Terezi sits up to get his attention.

“You’re not sleeping out there again,” She says, gesturing for him to get in with her and their daughter. He doesn’t protest (maybe it’s because he’s too tired to or maybe because he doesn’t want to wake up in a cold sweat again).

Terezi taps Justice until she wakes up again and tells her to move over a bit. She wonders why until her daddy comes into view and she scooches over enough to let him in. Soon, the elder troll’s got her arms around Dave and she’s pressing her chest into his back with her head in the crook of his neck with a sigh. Sure, the first thing he wants to do after work is get smothered in troll love from his family (obviously, he doesn’t get enough of it from his fans) but he doesn’t complain (out loud, at least).

Justice moves closer to them and turns so that her back’s to Dad and snuggles up close to her scalemate, a toothy smile coming to her face as sleep soon takes over. Dave has an arm around his daughter’s torso and pulls her closer, a small sigh leaving through his nose.

He doesn’t have a nightmare that night. (Terezi could’ve sworn it was going to happen at one time when he was squirming against her, but it turns out he was just trying to kiss her goodnight.

She’ll let that slide).

 


End file.
